GENEVA - The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to be convened later this year will take up such issues as cybercrime, multilingualism and enhancing the role of the Internet as a tool for development, a press release by the United Nations News Center stated.
Secretary-General's Special Advisor for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Mr. Nitin Desai, held consultations on the convening of the IGF in Geneva February 16-17.
The aim of the consultations was to develop a common understanding among all stakeholders on the nature and character of the IGF. The meeting addressed the IGF's scope of work and substantive priorities as well as aspects related to its structure and functioning.
The inaugural meeting of the IGF is scheduled to take place in Athens, Greece, in October or November 2006, with more than 500 participants.
"Those taking part in the consultations had reached a general agreement that the management of the IGF would be done jointly by governments, civil society, business organizations and the Internet community," Mr. Desai said.
"On other issues, one proposal was to have the IGF address specific management issues, such as spam and the illegal or malicious acts known as cybercrime, noting, however, that certain acts, such as sending or posting pornography, might be seen as a crime in one country and not in another. Another proposal was to have the Forum focus on issues of transparency and capacity building, although the IGF has had no decision-making power," he added.
"In any case, developing countries wanted to ensure that the IGF was relevant to development concerns. In this regard, they had introduced issues of interconnection costs, Internet access and the terms under which Internet users in developing countries could acquire software," he pointed out.
"The IGF would provide a space where different actors could openly discuss the technical, political, social and economic dimensions of the Internet," Mr. Desai concluded.